The outpost, Derekh Ha'avot, established early 2001 and is home to about 35 families; according to report 60 percent of the community is on Palestinian farmland.

The Military Advocate General (MAG ) is delaying the publication of an internal report from a year ago which shows that most of the West Bank outpost of Derekh Ha'avot is on private Palestinian land. The report, a copy of which was obtained by Haaretz, indicates that 60 percent of the Etzion Bloc community is on Palestinian farmland.

The outpost, also known as Nativ Ha'avot, was established in early 2001 and is home to about 35 families. In 2002, the Palestinian landowners petitioned the High Court of Justice for the return of their land. A government team appointed to conduct a land ownership survey never completed its work.

In 2008, Peace Now filed a second High Court petition, through attorneys Michael Sfard and Shlomi Zachariah, again demanding the outpost's evacuation. In its response to the petition, the state said the survey team would be reestablished. In October 2010, Justice Edmond Levy rejected the petition because the survey had not been completed but wrote, "No one knows when it will be done; only time will tell."

The landowners contacted the Civil Administration repeatedly, asking about the survey's status. Zachariah received a letter from Roman Levitt of the MAG's land department last April, stating that the team was building a database of its findings and expected to conclude its work within two months. In September Levitt wrote again, saying the survey work was "at its peak."

In response to a query from Haaretz last week, the IDF Spokesperson's Office noted the complexity of the survey, which included a land-use review going back to 1969, physical surveys of the land in question and input from Survey of Israel - the government mapping agency - and said the team's work was in its "final stages."

The documents obtained by Haaretz, however, indicate that the survey was carried out in November 2010. Since then, MAG and the Civil Administration have used various excuses to avoid making it public. The survey was conducted by Malka Ofri, head of photo-interpretation at Survey of Israel, who sent the Civil Administration an opinion based on her comparison of seven aerial photos taken between 1969 and 2007.

According to West Bank law, a person earns rights to a plot of land after cultivating it for 10 successive years. Ofri wrote that for 25 years there was no significant change to the cultivation of the land in question, which constitutes 60 percent of the 1,420 dunams (350 acres ) on which Derekh Ha'avot sits, meaning that most of the outpost is on Palestinian-owned land.

Since February, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to demolish all outposts built on private Palestinian land, right-wing activists have been applying heavy pressure on him to reverse that decision. Publication of the report on Derekh Ha'avot would cause more headaches for the authorities and bring the petitioners back to the High Court.

"This case, like many others, proves there is close cooperation between the the law enforcement authorities and lawbreakers," Zachariah told Haaretz. "The state rebuffed the Derekh Ha'avot petition by saying the status of the land had to be examined. It is now clear that this was only an excuse for the state not to address the issue of illegal building. When the outcome is inconvenient for the settlers, the state does not hurry to enforce the law, and by concealing data it completes the violation of the law. The new information will find its way to the relevant judicial instances so that the court will expose the sad truth of the enforcement authorities' conduct."

Israeli forces arrested three Palestinians from the town of Qabatya, south of Jenin, on Wednesday morning, while Israeli settlers in the southern West Bank sprayed a family of Palestinians, including a 10-year-old boy, with gas.

In Jenin refugee camp, local sources reporting to Palestinian government news wire Wafa said that “a huge number” of forces accompanied by a low-flying helicopter conducted a four hour raid in which troops searched all the neighborhoods in the camp. By dawn soldiers had arrested

A total of 22 Palestinians were injured and over 100 olive trees damaged in clashes and settler attacks between October 26 and November 1st, according to the Protection of Civilians Weekly Report issued Saturday by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

During the week, when the Israeli government announced plans to construct 2,000 new settlement housing units in the Jerusalem area, Palestinian injuries and property losses continued to occur in protests against access restrictions aimed at protecting existing settlements, as well as in settler attacks.

OCHA documented six settler attacks leading to casualties or property damage, all of which took place in the context of the olive harvest.

In three additional incidents, settlers attacked Palestinian farmers, stealing their olive crop or forcing the farmers to leave. The incidents occurred in the northern West Bank in the vicinity of Israeli settlements, during times allocated by the Israeli authorities for farmers to harvest their olives under IDF protection (“prior coordination regime”).

In the same period, Israeli authorities demolished 13 structures in Area C, which is completely under Israeli control, due to the lack of building permits. This displaced 29 people, including 21 children, and raised concern about the imminent implementation of a plan to transfer 20 Bedouin communities (about 2,500 people) from that area, most of which is planned for the expansion of Ma’ale Adumim settlement.

In addition, OCHA reported that after more than two months of relative calm, a serious escalation in violence took place in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel, leaving 12 Palestinian militants and one Israeli civilian dead, and another ten Palestinians, including two civilians, as well as three Israeli civilians injured.

The report said the escalation highlighted the fragility of the calm that has prevailed in previous months and the vulnerability of the civilian population on both sides.

Israeli restrictions on Palestinian access to areas up to 1,500 meters from the fence separating Israel and the Gaza Strip, and fishing areas beyond three nautical miles from the shore, continue to hinder the livelihoods of thousands of people in the Gaza Strip.

In one incident in the vicinity of the fence, Israeli forces fired warning shots towards a Palestinian shepherd, injuring him. In another incident, the Israeli Navy detained two fishermen and confiscated their boats; one of the fishermen was later released, added the report.

The weekly average settler attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties and property damage has increased by 40% in 2011 compared to 2010, and by over 165% compared to 2009, according to a report issued Saturday by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In 2011, three Palestinians were killed and 167 injured by Israeli settlers, whereas one Palestinian was killed and 101 others injured by Israeli soldiers during clashes between Israeli settlers and Palestinians, said the report.

Eight Israeli settlers were killed and 30 others injured by Palestinians in 2011, compared to five killed and 43 injured in 2010.

Violence by Israeli settlers undermines the physical security and livelihoods of Palestinians living under Israel’s prolonged military occupation. This violence includes physical assaults, harassment, takeover of and damage to private property, obstructed access to grazing and agricultural land, and attacks on livestock and agricultural land, among others.

In recent years, many attacks have been carried out by settlers living in settlement “outposts,” small satellite settlements built without official authorization, many on privately-owned Palestinian land. Since 2008, settlers have attacked Palestinians and their property as a means of discouraging the Israeli authorities from dismantling these outposts (the so-called “price tag” strategy).

The root cause of the settler violence phenomenon is Israel’s decades-long policy of illegally facilitating the settling of its citizens inside occupied Palestinian territory. This activity has resulted in the progressive takeover of Palestinian land, resources and transportation routes and has created two separate systems of rights and privileges, favoring Israeli citizens at the expense of the over 2.5 million Palestinian residents of the West Bank.

Recent official efforts to retroactively legalize settler takeover of privately owned Palestinian land actively promote a culture of impunity that contributes to continued violence.

OCHA has identified over 80 communities with a combined population of nearly 250,000 Palestinians vulnerable to settler violence, including 76,000 who are at high-risk.

Israeli authorities repeatedly fail to enforce the rule of law in response to Israeli settlers’ acts of violence against Palestinians. Israeli forces often fail to stop attacks and follow-up afterwards is inadequate or poorly conducted. Measures of the current system, including requiring Palestinians to file complaints at police stations located inside Israeli settlements, actively work against the rule of law by discouraging Palestinians from filing complaints.

Over 90% of monitored complaints regarding settler violence filed by Palestinians with the Israeli police in recent years have been closed without indictment.

The risk of displacement of vulnerable families as a result of settler violence is an issue of increasing concern. Settler violence creates pressure and constant hardship on some Palestinian communities, particularly when combined with other difficulties, such as access and movement restrictions and house demolitions. Displacement has serious immediate and longer-term physical, socio-economic and emotional impacts on Palestinian families and communities.

In July 2011, a community of 127 people was displaced en masse due to repeated settler attacks, with some affected families re-locating to Areas A and B, added the report.

Under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, Israel is obligated to prevent attacks against civilians or their property and ensure that all incidents of setter violence are investigated in a thorough, impartial and independent manner.

In addition, nearly 10,000 Palestinian-owned trees, primarily olive trees, have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli settlers, significantly undermining the livelihoods of hundreds of families.

The Palestinian government in Gaza appealed to the UNESCO to necessarily assume its role in protecting the Palestinian holy sites and heritage from ongoing acts of sabotage and destruction by Jewish settlers and their authority.

"The UNESCO is demanded today more than ever to fulfill its responsibilities especially after Palestine was accepted as one of its members and in light of the escalating attack by the occupation forces and their settlers against Mamanullah cemetery in Jerusalem," Palestinian deputy minister of culture Mustafa Assawaf said in a press release.

"The latest attack by Zionist settlers on Mamanullah cemetery, in which they smashed some gravestones and dug up graves, was part of a systematic campaign being carried out by the occupation authority through exchanging roles between the municipality, the antiquities authority and the settlers," Assawaf stated.

The deputy minister called on the UNESCO to move to end such acts that violate international law, humanitarian norms and heavenly religions.

For its part, the Aqsa foundation for endowment and heritage strongly denounced on Thursday the Jewish settlers' wanton attack on Mamanullah cemetery in occupied Jerusalem.

It held the Israeli government responsible for this attack and demanded the Arab and Muslim countries to move to protect the Islamic holy sites from Zionist violations.

11 nov 2011

'Death to Arabs' scrawled across Muslim gravestones in Jerusalem

Assailants desecrate some 15 Muslim headstones in what is suspected to be the latest 'price tag' attack by right-wing extremists.

Some 15 Muslim gravestones were found desecrated in Jerusalem with the slogan "Death to Arabs" on Thursday, in what is suspected to be the latest "price tag" attack by right-wing extremists.

“Death to Arabs” and “Givat Asaf” – the name of a West Bank settlement outpost that is slated for demolition – were spray painted on the gravestones in the Bamamila Cemetery, next to the Jerusalem Museum of Tolerance.

It is still not known who is responsible for the desecration of the gravestones, or even exactly when it took place.

A month ago, on Yom Kippur, graves were desecrated with anti-Arab graffiti in two cemeteries in Jaffa, Christian and Muslim.

Police arrested a 21-year-old on Wednesday on suspicion of spray-painting ‘price tag’ and anti-Arab slogans, and on suspicion of being behind a false a bomb scare at the offices of left-wing political activists Peace Now. The young man had already being arrested in the past after he rang the doorbell of Yariv Oppenheimer, head of Peace Now, and threatened to harm him.

After police interrogated the man over the threats he uttered, he was released. A Jerusalem court remanded the man for another six days on Wednesday.

The man took responsibility for some of the crimes attributed to him at the beginning of his interrogation, including causing damage to the car of an Arab. He said that he did it because he “hates Arabs and hates Leftists.” But later he retracted his confession, and he is currently denying all accusations made against him.

The man’s lawyer, Shaul Ezra, claims that his client’s confession is inadmissible because it was extracted by force. Even when he confessed to some acts at first, the young man denied that accusation that he was responsible for spray-painting graffiti at the home of Hagit Ofran, the Settlement Watch Committee of Peace Now.

Israel Police Commander Yohanan Danino vowed to Peace Now activists on Wednesday that the police was taking every measure to ensure their security and apprehend those responsible for the attacks.

The police struck out in court in another incident that had triggered suspicions of being a ‘price tag’ attack. The police believed that they had enough evidence against three suspects who were caught in Wadi Ara soon after the murder of a family in the West Bank settlement of Itamar, carrying bottles of propane.

The three men claimed in court that they were on their way to visit the graves of Jewish saints and had taken propane will them in the event of an emergency.

Israel court orders extradition of Brooklyn man

Yitzchak Suchat suspected of beating Andrew Charles in Crown Heights in April 2008; area is known for racial tension between Orthodox Jews and blacks.

An Israeli court has ordered a Brooklyn man extradited to the U.S. in connection with an April 2008 assault on a black man.

Yitzchak Shuchat is suspected of beating Andrew Charles in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. The area is known for 1991 race riots between Orthodox Jews and blacks.

Thursday's extradition order cites a U.S. request over the 2008 attack, alleging an unidentified man on a bicycle sprayed Charles with mace while Shuchat stepped out of an SUV, struck Charles with a wooden club and drove off.

Shuchat fled to Canada, then to Israel in May 2008. He was indicted in the U.S. on hate crime and other charges.

Police suspected the attack followed reports that black youths had pelted neighborhood homes with rocks.

A Jewish settler was killed Friday at dawn and two others were wounded when IOF troops manning a flying roadblock near the Otniel Settlement to the south east of al-Khalil opened fire at their car mistaking them for Palestinians.

Israeli media sources said that the settler was travelling at high speed failing to stop at the roadblock. Occupation troops manning the roadblock thought he was a Palestinian and opened fire.

According to the IOF the 60 year old settler was travelling on the main road between the settlement and the city of al-Khalil, his failure to slow down or stop made the soldiers respond by opening fire.

After the killing of the settler a Palestinian lorry driver run over a soldier injuring him at the same roadblock. The injured soldier was taken to Soroka hospital and the lorry driver was arrested.

The city of al-Khalil has witnessed an intensification of IOF activity, with many neighbourhoods stormed in army manoeuvres three days ago.

The IOF deployed paratroopers at the entrances of the city over a month ago. They set up surprise roadblocks daily to stop and search cars entering and leaving the city.

Defense Ministry decides to recognize Mount Hebron shooting incident as act of terror so that victim's families will be eligible for National Insurance aid.

The deadly incident that occured Friday morning at south Mount Hebron claiming the life of Rabbi Dan Martzbach and left two women wounded has been recognized by the Defense Ministry as an act of terror in order to help the grieving families – even though IDF troops were the ones who opened fire.

The incident took place on Route 60 at around 5:30 am. IDF soldiers stationed near Hebron noticed a suspicious Israeli vehicle approaching them and motioned it to stop.

As the driver failed to comply and suspecting he was planning to commit a terror attack by running them over, the soldiers opened fire at the vehicle. Martzbach sustained a head injury and was pronounced dead on the spot.

The IDF is still investigating the circumstances of the incident. Defense establishment officials said that this was a rare and extreme case the likes of which they have trouble recalling. They have decided to recognize it as a terrorist act so that the National Insurance would assist the bereaved families with logistical expenses and with the funeral arrangements.

The family is set to request full recognition and the Defense Ministry is expected to approve the request.

The NII explained that this was standard procedure in such cases and that by law, anyone hurt in an action meant to thwart enemy activity is considered a terror victim and recognized as such by the Defense Ministry and National Insurance Institute.

Israel's government on Thursday asked the country's Supreme Court to postpone demolition of two settlement outposts built on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, the justice ministry said.

The petitions asked that the court-ordered demolition of Givat Assaf be delayed until June and that of Amona until December 2012.

Both sites, which are located in the northern West Bank, were among six outposts which the court had ordered to be taken down by the end of this year.

The petitioners argued issue of so-called wildcat settlement outposts lay "at the center of a political debate in Israel" which the government was seeking to resolve "peacefully" with the settler community.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday urged settlers to act with restraint after 12 were arrested in a clash with police who were demolishing part of an outpost east of Ramallah.

But he reassured the settler movement, from which his coalition government draws much of its support, that he was committed to building in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

"Our main effort should be put into strengthening settlement, not in conflict with the law, and certainly not through conflict with one another," he told his ruling Likud party.

Israel considers settlement outposts built without government approval to be illegal and often sends security personnel to demolish them. They usually consist of little more than a few trailers.

But the international community considers all settlements built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, to be illegal.

Demolition of a handful of outposts built on privately owned Palestinian land was ordered by the Supreme Court in August after a legal battle waged by Palestinian land-owners.

Among the sites slated for removal are Givat Assaf and Amona as well as parts of Givat HaRoeh, Ramat Gilad and Bnei Adam. A sixth outpost, Migron, is to be taken down by the end of March 2012.

Figures compiled by settlement watchdog Peace Now show 70 outposts are built either entirely or partially on private Palestinian land, although not all of them are currently being subjected to legal challenges.

Peace Now Secretary General Yariv Oppenheimer accused the right-wing government of bending to settler pressure by seeking the postponements.

"The government is violating its own commitment to dismantle by the end of the year all outposts built on private Palestinian land, yielding again to settler pressure in a political calculation," he told AFP.

Palestinian residents from the district of Salfit and the village of Deir Estia participated in large numbers in the funeral of a Palestinian farmer who was run-over on Tuesday by a Jewish settler driving her car to Rafafa settlement near the village.

Eyewitnesses said that Abdul-Muttalib Hakim, 45 years, from the village of Deir Estia died instantly after being hit by the vehicle while he was walking home from his fields where he was picking olives.

The governor of Salfit district and other official and popular figures participated in the funeral.

Speeches were made at the funeral in which the high rate of such incidents was condemned, especially that it is believed that many of these incidents are deliberate.

Israel Defense Forces shot and killed an Israeli early Friday in the southern Hebron region of the West Bank, when the man driving a vehicle did not notice a checkpoint and passed through without stopping. The soldiers involved in the incident said the shooting was accidental.

Initial reports suggest that the incident, which took place just after 5 am, occurred after IDF soldiers erected a makeshift checkpoint between Yatta and Hebron, after receiving reports of a suspicious truck leaving one of the settlements in the area.

IDF forces attempted to flag down and stop the vehicle. When the vehicle showed no signs of slowing down, IDF forces opened fire, killing 55-year-old Dan Mertzbach, a resident of Otniel, and wounding two other passengers.

Moments later, a Palestinian truck struck one of the IDF soldiers who was standing by the side of the road near the scene of the shooting.

The passengers were evacuated to Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem in Jerusalem.

GOC Central Command Avi Mizrachi said that an investigation would be opened into the incident.

A Central Command representative told reporters, “at 5.30 A.M. an IDF observation post in Beit Hagai spotted a suspicious vehicle. IDF forces came out of the observation tower, but did not manage to set up a checkpoint in time, and so they signaled to the vehicle to stop. The vehicle did not stop and an IDF soldier fired eight shots at it.

The vehicle got stuck on the side of the road. The soldier who fired the shots ran towards the vehicle and was run over by a Palestinian truck. The incident is currently under investigation, we will investigate why the soldiers opened fire, because according to instructions on opening fire, soldiers are not supposed to shoot at a moving vehicle.

Eyewitnesses report seeing an Israeli settler point a gun at a Palestinian resident in Ras al-Amoud district of Silwan on Friday night, 10 November.

The incident followed confrontations between Palestinian residents and Israeli forces in Al-Hara al-Wasta district, which lies next to Ras al-Amoud. The settler involved was not questioned or charged by police.

Settler violence has long been an unfortunate fact of life for Palestinian inhabitants of Silwan. Last year

-- Samer Sarhan, 36, was shot dead by a settler guard, and this year -- Milad Ayyash, 16, met the same fate. -- Many others have been grievously injured, including --Mazen Audeh, 23, who was shot in the leg by a settler;-- Ameer Froukh, 13, shot; and -- Ahmad Qaraeen, 39, who was shot in both legs with an M-16 rifle by a settler on leave from his military service.

Racist statements such as “Death to Arabs” and “Price Tag” were sprayed on Muslim gravestones in the Mamanullah cemetery in occupied Jerusalem on Thursday.

The statements are usually spray-painted by Jewish settlers after burning mosques and holy Christian and Islamic shrines.

A month ago graves were desecrated with anti-Arab graffiti in two cemeteries in Jaffa, Christian and Muslim.

The settlers recently wrote the same statements on the walls of the Jewish “Peace now” movement’s office in Jerusalem.

The Past week: Personal injuries and destroyed olive trees

Settler violence and attacks against the annual olive harvest continues on the West Bank. 21 Palestinians was injured in clashes with Israeli forces while at least 100 olive trees were destroyed and 13 houses demolished during the past week.

This is according to the UN agency OCHA, The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who publishes a weekly report with the purpose of monitoring and documenting the humanitarian situation in Gaza and on the West Bank.

The following is a summary of the report covering 26 October to1 November

Demonstrations and clashes

Demonstrations against restricted land access around existing settlements continued this week, following the Israeli announcement to build 2000 new settlements in Jerusalem. Additional demonstrations against restricted access to farming land were held close to the settlements Karmei Tzur and Kafr Qaddum.

The past week also saw protests against the construction of the wall as it results in additional restrictions of access to farming land. The demonstrations led to clashes in which 21 Palestinians were injured.

An overwhelming majority of the wall, about 80 % is constructed, in violation of international law, on the occupied West Bank including in and around East Jerusalem. When completed, 9,5 % of the West Bank will be on the Israeli side of the wall.

Settler violence and destruction of olive trees

6 Palestinians, one of them an 80 year old woman, were injured by stone throwers during the olive harvest close to the settlement Ma’ale Mikhmas this week. In the same area 70 olive trees were burned down and stone throwing settlers sabotaged four Palestinian owned vehicles.

During the same period 50 olive trees were destroyed in the area of Beit Safafa in East Jerusalem and the village Janya. In three other incidents, settlers forced Palestinian farmers to abstain from their harvest or leave the area, despite coordination with IDF in order to guarantee their security.

Continued demolition of Palestinian property

13 buildings were demolished in area C on the West Bank making 29 Palestinians, of which 21 were children, homeless during the past week. The demolitions were carried out in an area designated for the expansion of the settlement Ma’ale Adummim and on the basis that the structures lacked Israeli building permits.

It is almost impossible for Palestinians to get building permits in area C while Israeli settlers face a different reality. During the period of 2000-2007 Israeli authorities approved 91 building permits from Palestinians in this area (that constitutes 60 percent of the West Bank). During the same period, over 18 000 buildings in settlements were approved in the same area.

The Israeli army is, according to international as well as Israeli law utterly responsible for law and order on the West Bank. Numerous reports from UN agencies as well as Israeli authorities show that the attitude towards settlers who commit crimes against Palestinians is very forgiving. Israeli soldiers who witness these crimes tend to ignore them.

Constructing settlements on occupied land is a clear violation of international law. Today there are about 500 000 settlers living in settlements on the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, areas that are under occupation by Israel.

9 nov 2011A settler runs over a farmer in Salfit killing him

A Palestinian man was killed Wednesday evening in the village of Deir-Estia in the northern West Bank after he was run over by a settler on a road used by settlers near the entrance to the Rafafa settlement to the west of the village.

Eyewitnesses said that Abdul-Muttalib Hakim, 45 years, from the village of Deir Estia died instantly after being hit by a vehicle driven by a settler while he was walking home from his fields where he was picking olives.

Settler by-pass roads in the West Bank, witness many such incidents, a lot of them are deliberate.

Settlers torch cars belonging to Palestinians in al-Khalil

Israeli settlers set fire on Wednesday to three cars belonging to Palestinians in the village of Beit Ummar to the north of al-Khalil. They also daubed graffiti expressing anti-Arab sentiments and opposition to the prisoner exchange deal which took place recently.

Muhammad Awad, a member of the anti-wall committee, was quoted by Safa news as saying that a group of settlers came from the settlement of Beit Ein, which is built on lands belonging to the villagers, and set fire to three cars; a Subaru belonging to Habes Husain, a Peugeot belonging to Yusuf Breigheith and a Toyota belonging to Zayed Husain.

The settlers daubed graffiti on houses expressing racist sentiments and expressing opposition to the prisoner exchange deal by which 477 Palestinian captives were recently released and another 550 captives are due for release soon.

Suspect in Peace Now HQ 'price tag' incident arrested

21-year-old from Mevaseret Zion arrested over his suspected involvement in long line of 'price tag' acts, including Peace Now bomb scare.

Jerusalem Police on Wednesday arrested a 21-year-old from Mevaseret Zion over his suspected involvement in a long line of "price tag" acts.

The young man admitted to the charges and explained that he committed the acts out of nationalist motivations and out of his hatred towards Arabs. He noted that he was interested in harming Arabs and those who support their activities.

Police suspect that the young man is behind the vandalism incident at the Peace Now organization's Jerusalem headquarters and the false bomb scare there, as well as five cases of vandalism including spray painting "Death to Arabs" and "Price Tag".

The suspect was already arrested a few months ago for making threats against Peace Now chief Yariv Oppenheimer and was released after an investigation.

Among the incidents the suspect is being charged with are two in Beit Hanina, an incident at the Mevaseret boy scouts chapter and twice at Peace Now headquarters.

Superintendant Yigal Almalich said that "the police department, the police commissioner and the regional commander attach a great deal of importance to handling "price tag" cases.

"Last night after laborious intelligence work , we arrested the suspect in a number of cases like these and we believe he worked alone but had attempted to make contacts within right wing organizations and was in touch with many right wing activists.

Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar made harsh statements against violence targeting soldiers, Palestinians and leftist activists in what is referred to as the "price tag" phenomenon.

Speaking at a youth rally marking 16 years since the murder of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Sa'ar said: "The 'price tag' gangs which scheme against innocents, damage property, hurt IDF soldiers and members of the security forces, burn mosque and generally terrorize (the public) are a dangerous and cancerous tumor which must be removed."

He added that "price tag" vandals were "enemies of Judaism" and urged law enforcement authorities to curb the phenomenon.

On Wednesday morning, three Palestinian vehicles in the West Bank were found burnt. A nearby wall saw the words "regards from Bat-Ayin" and a Star of David spray-painted on it.

On Tuesday, 'price tag' slogans were spray-painted on the house of Hagit Ofran, a senior member at the Peace Now movement. Hate messages were also spray-painted on a car parked nearby which had Peace Now stickers on it.

Israeli forces arrested three Palestinians from the town of Qabatya, south of Jenin, on Wednesday morning, while Israeli settlers in the southern West Bank sprayed a family of Palestinians, including a 10-year-old boy, with gas.

In Jenin refugee camp, local sources reporting to Palestinian government news wire Wafa said that “a huge number” of forces accompanied by a low-flying helicopter conducted a four hour raid in which troops searched all the neighborhoods in the camp.

By dawn soldiers had arrested

1- Anas Atta Kamil, 27, 2- Ahmed Hisham Kamil, 26—a student in the American University in Jenin and released prisoner3- and 24-year-old Yazan Ateb Obaideh.

Meanwhile in the southern West Bank, a group of settlers from the illegal settlement of Etzion near Bethlehem sprayed a family of Palestinians from the village of Artas with tear gas. Mohammed Hussein As’ad’s family suffered from inhalation, including 10-year-oldd Sa’ad, who was transferred to the Beit Jala for treatment.

It is not known for certain where the Etzion settlers acquired the tear gas, but it could be part of a package of non-lethal weapons distributed to settlers by the Israeli government earlier this year, fearing reprisals over the Palestinian presentation of its UN membership bid in September.

Knesset Speaker on ‘Jewish Terrorism’

Via Jacob Heilbrunn, speaker of the Israeli Knesset Reuven Rivlin speaks out against price-tag attacks, in which extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank attack Palestinians and their property out of anger towards the dismantling of illegal Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory:

“This is not a ‘price’ or a ‘tag,’ this is terror,” he wrote. “These villainous criminals who harmed houses of prayer, fields, homes and property belonging to Palestinians, are Jewish, and this is Jewish terrorism that should be called nothing less.”

So-called price-tag attacks increased markedly towards the end of the summer – as this report shows – and began to get what little international attention it did get last month, when the U.N. urged the Israeli government to curb the violence and harassment against Palestinians. The latest harassment has cropped up in response to indications from Netanyahu that some settlements will be dismantled, even though Israel simultaneously announced other settlement expansions in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

This is the second time in months that Hagit Ofran has been targeted, allegedly by right-wing extremists angry over dismantling of illegal West Bank settlements.

The home of a top Peace Now activist was vandalized overnight on Monday, for the second time in two months, allegedly by right-wing extremists angry over the Israeli government's policy of dismantling illegal West Bank outposts.

The vandals painted swastikas and sprayed graffiti on Hagit Ofran's home, in what police believe to be part of the "price tag" policy adopted by extremists.

The graffiti warned: "Hagit Ogran, Rabin is waiting for you", referring to the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, by a right wing-activist.

The vandals also sprayed: "Givat Assaf revenge" and "Greetings from Maoz Etzion", in reference to two West Bank outposts that were recently razed. A parked vehicle nearby adorned with a bumper sticker reading 'peace' was also vandalized.

The damage was found by Ofran's neighbors and reported to police, who subsequently opened an investigation.

The incident is the latest in a string of "price tag" attacks carried out against Ofran and the anti-settlement movement Peace Now over recent months.

The Jerusalem offices of Peace Now were vandalized earlier this week, accompanied by bomb threats. Over the weekend, a Star of David was sprayed on the office gates.

Two months ago, similar graffiti was spray-painted on the door of Ofran’s home and on the wall of the stairwell of the building she lives in. Some of the graffiti included the words “death to the traitors” and “Migron price tag,” in reference to another dismantled outpost.

"They are trying to scare us, but it will not work," Ofran told Haaretz on Tuesday. "The discourse in Israel has become truly dangerous. We are having an argument about the future and this discourse has crossed red lines," she added.

Peace Now responded to the incident with s a statement declaring: "The responsibility for price tag attacks is (Prime Minister) Netanyahu's. The incitement and the harsh words of the coalition members in favor of illegal outposts and against the justice system and left-wing organizations is seeping into the ground and giving support to the price tag vandals."

The unknown vandals also wrote "Hagit Ofran – zal (of blessed memory)" and "Givat Assaf" – an illegal outpost in the West Bank which is slated for evacuation by the State. The Right is protesting against the planned razing of a number of illegal outposts. The phrase "regards from Oz Zion" was spray-painted in the building's stairwell. Oz Zion is a West Bank outpost which was cleared on Monday. Twelve people were arrested during its evacuation.

A vehicle bearing a "Peace Now" bumper sticker was vandalized nearby. The car does not belong to Ofran, who serves as the director of Peace Now's Settlement Watch project.

Earlier this week the phrase "price tag" was spray-painted on the walls of Peace Now's Jerusalem office. According to Peace Now, the suspected perpetrator apparently buzzed on the office's intercom and said that a bomb had been hidden in the building, but no bomb was found.

About two months ago vandals wrote "the end is near" on the entrance to Ofran's building. She told Ynet at the time. "It is not pleasant but I am not the only one. Senior IDF officers and other activists have also (been targeted). We know who we are dealing with."

No suspects have been arrested as of yet.

PSCC Organizes Palestinian “Freedom Rides” on Settler Buses Next Week

The Palestinian Solidarity Coordination Committee announced in a press release on Tuesday that it had begun a campaign to put Palestinians from the West Bank on East Jerusalem-bound settler buses next week, emulating the “Freedom Rides” of the 1960s US civil rights movement.

The rides, planned for the afternoon of November 15 and beginning in Ramallah, are being promoted as an act of civil disobedience protesting Israeli access restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank. Ten of eleven major West Bank cities have at least one entrance blocked off and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says there are currently 522 checkpoints in the territory.

“The Freedom Riders seek to highlight Israel’s attempts to illegally sever occupied East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, and the apartheid system that Israel has imposed on Palestinians in the occupied territories,” according to the press release.

The riders will “attempt to board” buses on the 15th, but there is no precedent suggesting they will be allowed or prohibited.

The press release concludes, “While it is not officially forbidden for Palestinians to use Israeli public transportation in the West Bank, these lines are effectively segregated, since many of them pass through Jewish-only settlements, to which Palestinian entry is prohibited by a military decree.”

The Freedom Riders were American civil rights activists who in 1961 began riding interstate buses in the South and sitting in segregated, whites-only seats. Many were brutally beaten or arrested.

After ordering accelerated construction of 2,000 housing units in east Jerusalem and West Bank, Netanyahu tells Likud faction building must be conducted legally. Minister Steinitz: Razing immoral.

After announcing his intention to set up a team that would examine the possibility of retroactively legalizing construction in some West Bank outposts, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday, "The effort should focus on bolstering the communities, not clashing with the law. It is forbidden to build on anyone's private land."

Speaking to members of his ruling Likud party, the PM said "Last week I ordered accelerated construction of 2,000 housing units – this is the best way to strengthen the (settlement enterprise). We are acting, not talking. I was pleased with the feedback I received. These territories will remain under Israel's sovereignty in any agreement.

"We must build in accordance with the law, thus strengthening the Land of Israel. There is no contradiction between the (settlement enterprise) and upholding the law," Netanyahu added.

Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar said he objects to the destruction of outposts in the West Bank because, according to him, there is "no proof of ownership and because the structures were erected by the state in good faith.

"The homes were built by the government, and destroying them would be the wrong solution," he added.

Knesset members Miri Regev and Yariv Levin also criticized Netanyahu's remarks, with Levin claiming that "judicial elements are dictating a political viewpoint that is preventing the government from governing. There is a simple solution to the problem, and the government must not destroy (outposts)."

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said during the meeting, "(The State) builds homes, a Palestinian casts doubt (over their legality) and someone petitions the High Court of Justice. It is enough that someone casts the slightest doubt for the State to become defensive and seal the communities' fate."

Netanyahu responded by saying: "Why must I destroy these homes? Is it required (from a legal standpoint)? I can offer compensation."

Steinitz continued to say that "we are making families miserable – not for a peace agreement and not for justice. It is morally and legally wrong. As someone who has researched the events at Amona – we will be subjecting ourselves to unnecessary tension and division."

MK Tzipi Hotovely told the Likud faction meeting that "the attempts to present the outposts issue as one that is related to upholding the law are misleading. It is a political issue. For the majority (of Likud faction members) razing outposts is a red line. Ten MKs said they would not vote with the government unless the outposts issue is resolved."

"We must pass a law that would legalize all the lands (in the West Bank)," Hotovely added.

Earlier Monday, a number of MKs and rabbis held a meeting during which they agreed that political pressure must be applied to prevent the razing of outpost homes.

"You are the ones who will have to carry the burden," Rabbi Dov Lior told the MKs.

Also on Monday, IDF soldiers and police officers were attacked while clearing the ruins of three illegal structures which were razed at the Oz Zion outpost. Twelve people were arrested, including seven teenagers, for hurling stones, assaulting police officers, and violating a closed military zone order.

During last week's Likud faction meeting Minister Yuli Edelstein and a number of other party members, including ministers Moshe Ya'alon, Gilad Erdan and Limor Livnat, urged the government to refrain from evacuating and razing Jewish-owned homes in the West Bank.

In accordance with its pledge to the High Court of Justice, the State is expected to begin a series of razings and evacuations at a number of outposts. Some 85 permanent housing units in Migron, Givat Assaf and Beit-El's Ulpana neighborhood are slated for destruction.

Ephraim Halevy refuses to apologize for stating 'ultra-Orthodox radicalization a greater threat than Iran,' says was not referring to haredim as a group or individuals. Knesset Speaker Rivlin: His words include anti-Semitic tones.

Former Mossad Director Ephraim Halevy on Sunday clarified that his statement that "growing haredi radicalization poses a greater existential threat to Israel than the Iranian nuclear program" was not directed at the ultra-Orthodox public as a whole.

"I didn't say one word against the haredim as a group or individuals," Halevy clarified in an interview to Kol Hai Radio.

The former Mossad chief refused to apologize for his remark until the end of public religious radicalization, but expressed his regret over the fact that many people were hurt.

"The example of the Iranian threat may have been extreme, but that's not the issue," he said. "I'm sorry if anyone was hurt. The last thing I want is to hurt people, but I don't want people to hurt me either."

Asked by the interviewer, Elad Kinset, whether he was satisfied with the public debate sparked by his remarks but not by the way it was sparked, Halevy said yes.

He explained that haredi radicalization leads to seclusion and deepens the rift within the Jewish people, while unity is a necessary condition for dealing with external threats like the one Israel is facing from Iran.

"It's not right to look for further aggravations from generation to generation," Halevy ruled, calling for the adoption of the moderate rulings of Rabbi Shlomo Goren as Israel's chief rabbi and chief military rabbi.

'Playing into anti-Semites' hands'

Halevy's remarks, which were said during a meeting with military boarding school graduates and published over the weekend, sparked a row – especially among the haredi public.

"This is a slur putting to shame the person these remarks are ascribed to," said Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman. "It's scary to imagine that such groundless remarks were said by a person who served in such a high-ranking and responsible role, who is now verbally attacking and inciting against an entire public."

Interior Minister Eli Yishai added, "It's enraging that especially on the memorial day for (slain Prime Minister) Yitzhak Rabin, Mr. Halevy has not learned the lesson of incitement."

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin slammed the former Mossad chief as well, saying that his remarks "include anti-Semitic tones". He added that Halevy should be more careful, as "such irresponsible remarks could play into the hands of the world's greatest anti-Semites."

Hardline Jewish settlers have adopted what they call a "price tag" policy under which they attack Palestinians and their property in response to Israeli government measures against settlements.

Ordinarily carried out in the West Bank, the slogan has been found in attacks on mosques in Israel, as well as targeting the Israeli peace group.

In August, Ofran's home was spray-painted with similar slogans, including "death to the traitors" and "Migron price tag," referring to an illegal settlement outpost in the West Bank, Haaretz said.

Peace Now director Yariv Oppenheimer said the organization had warned Israeli police it was being threatened.

"The political leadership backs up these incidents. Even if, on the face of it, there is condemnation, in practice the hooliganism of the right has support in the (Israeli parliament) Knesset," he added in a statement from the group.

Three Israeli settlers have been arrested on suspicion of attacking Palestinian property and buildings, including a mosque, police said on Sunday.

"Three residents of the settlements, two adults and a minor, were arrested at the end of the week for acts of vandalism, including participation in the burning of a mosque in northern Israel at the beginning of October," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.

He said "more than eight" people in all had been arrested in connection with various attacks against Palestinian property in Israel and the West Bank recent months, including two currently in prison and the three detained last week.

The Oct. 3 attack on a mosque in the Bedouin village of Tuba Zangaria in the northern Galilee, which caused extensive damage, came after a spate of similar incidents.

Hardline Jewish settlers have adopted what they call a "price tag" policy under which they attack Palestinians and their property in response to Israeli government measures against settlements.

Although such acts of vengeance normally occur in the occupied West Bank, a similar attack targeted another mosque in Ibtin village in Galilee last year.

Settlers: Palestinians attacked Israeli woman, stole her car

Settlers from the West Bank told Police officials that Palestinians attacked a woman from Givat Harel outpost and stole her car near the Palestinian village of Sinjil.

Police reported they located the vehicle near Ramallah.

Police arrests 3 men suspected of 'Price Tag' operations

The Police have arrested three men allegedly involved in last March's 'Price Tag' operations. They are suspected of damaging a car belonging to an Arab resident in Jerusalem and attempted arson.

Israeli settlers attacked a man and set fire to his tractor on Tuesday near Nablus in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian Authority official said.

Settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas told Ma'an that residents of the illegal Itamar settlement attacked Ashraf Jami near Yanoun, but he was able to escape.

The settlers torched Jami's tractor, Doughlas said, adding that locals managed to put the fire out but the vehicle had already been damaged.

The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees released a report on Tuesday which documented settler attacks against Palestinian agriculture.

It found that over 53 percent of settler attacks in October had taken place in the Nablus district and 13 farmers were injured in the region as a result of settler violence.

Over 2,600 olive trees were destroyed by settlers in October, resulting in a monetary loss of around $150,000, the report said.

Since 1967, 800,000 olive trees have been uprooted resulting in a loss of around $55 million to the Palestinian economy, according to a report by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of National Economy and the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem.

A group of Jewish settlers Wednesday
attacked and ransacked Palestinian homes in Al Baqa'a area, east of
Hebron in the southern West Bank, according to local sources.

Local residents said that group of settlers from Kiryat Arba and
Kharsena nearby settlements, accompanied by Israeli soldiers and police
dogs, attacked the houses, forces the residents out, inspected the
houses and ransacked them.

Settlers broke windows of the houses and several windshields of Palestinian vehicles in the area, added the residents.

They called on the Palestinian Authority to oversee the situation in
the area, which has been targeted by settlers to force its Palestinian
residents out, so as to take over the land and expand their
settlements.

In a related matter, a group of settlers from
Itamar settlement, southeast of Nablus, set fire to a Palestinian's
tractor in the nearby village of Aqraba on Tuesday night, according to
local activist. Ghassan Daghlas, an activist monitoring settlement
activities in the northern West Bank, warned from further settlers'
attacks in Nablus after the Israeli authorities decided to close a
religious school in Yitzhar settlement south of the city. He called on
Palestinians to take precautious measures from the attacks.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Palestinian residents
of East Jerusalem petitioned the High Court of Justice on October 31,
demanding an end to the operation of private security guards deployed
through the Ministry of Housing and Construction to protect Jewish
residential compounds in East Jerusalem.

Through privatizing
core policing responsibilities, the authorities have violated the basic
rights of Palestinians, endangering life and limb. (HJC 8001/11;
excerpts in English here) Stationed in neighborhoods such as Silwan and
the Old City, 350 private security guards, financed by Israeli
taxpayers, are charged with protecting some 2,000 Jewish Israeli
settlers. The armed guards carry out daily policing duties such as
patrols and guard watch in predominantly Palestinian neighborhoods,
without proper supervision and guidelines.

In September 2010,
Silwan resident Samer Sarhan was shot and killed by a security guard,
and in other cases Palestinian passersby have suffered gunshot wounds.
The guards’ stated mission is to protect Jewish residents from Arab
residents, in contradiction of both Israeli and international law,
which obligate the Israeli authorities to protect all residents.

Over the past twenty years, the rise in numbers of settlers and
compounds has increased the budget provided by the Housing Ministry from
7 million NIS in 1991 to 76 million NIS in 2011. Throughout this
period, the Modi’in Ezrachi private security company has won the
relevant Housing Ministry bids to carry out this operation.

A
public committee to examine this policy, convened by former Housing
Minister Isaac Herzog and under the direction of Major General (res.)
Ori Orr, made the unequivocal recommendation in 2006 that responsibility
for the security of these areas should be returned to the Ministry of
Internal Security and to the Israel Police. Yet shortly thereafter the
government adopted an opposite resolution, preserving the status quo,
which stands in violation to several rights and laws, including:
Unlawful Privatization of Policing Duties:

The Israel Police
have abdicated their role in East Jerusalem as the exclusive authority
charged with protecting all residents. Security guards are private
citizens who are not civil servants and therefore are not obligated to
follow the same norms of equality and due justice. Disregard for
Palestinians’ Rights:

The authorities have time and again
failed to take into consideration the rights of Palestinian
Jerusalemites – who are the overwhelming majority of residents in these
areas of the city – and have secluded them from the decision-making
process, thus placing the rights and interests of settlers above those
of the local Palestinians. The daily presence of the guards in these
crowded neighborhoods infringes, among other things, on the freedom of
movement of Palestinians (through the closure of streets) and on their
right to privacy (violated by security cameras looking into their
private domains). Insufficient Supervision and Ambiguous Norms:

The private security guards are authorized to use ammunition and apply
physical violence under defined circumstances, in order to protect
Jewish residents and their visitors. Their operations are overseen by
the Israel Police, but since they are not part of the police force this
supervision is severely lacking. The private guards’ norms of conduct
are vague and unknown to the local population. It is unclear who is in
charge of receiving complaints against them and what measures can be
taken, and although the law requires security guards to wear name tags
to guarantee accountability, this requirement is overlooked. To date, no
security guard operating in East Jerusalem was put on trial. Lack of
Legal Basis:

In the petition, ACRI shows that prior to 2007 no
legal basis was formed to support the delegation of policing duties in
East Jerusalem to private security guards. Government resolution No.
1073, which was passed in January 2007, created a legal basis, but it
too is incomplete, because although this form of resolution must be
presented by the government to the Knesset, this never happened.

Throughout the years, various officials have questioned this policy. In
2010, Housing Minister Ariel Atias sent a letter to Prime Minister
Netanyahu, stating that in his opinion the responsibility for security
in the area “must be under the professional body in charge of this
issue, i.e. the Israel Police,” and not in the hands of the Housing
Ministry, a body that is professionally not equipped to deal with
security matters.

ACRI Attorney Keren Tzafrir, who wrote the
petition, said today: “The state has failed to protect the Palestinian
residents of Jerusalem, and is instead clearly and unlawfully favoring
the protection of settlers who have taken up residency there.

ACRI has turned to the Ministries of Housing and Internal Security, as
well as to the Prime Minister, demanding change, but what has become
clear is that none of the official bodies have taken full responsibility
for the work of the private security guards deployed through the
Housing Ministry in East Jerusalem”.

A potent symbol of peace and harmony, the olive has
become a source of confrontation and violence in the decades-old
conflict that pits Israel against Palestinians.

Once a time of
happy industry, the autumn harvest season in particular has degenerated
into antagonism, with farmers accusing extremist Jewish settlers of
destroying their crops and trying to seize their land.

Nawaf
Thawabteh said he had barely started picking his oil-rich fruit in
early October on a rocky hilltop near the Elon Moreh settlement when
three masked men brandishing clubs charged through his orchard and
grabbed his half-filled sacks.

"The army was meant to be here
to protect us, but there was no one around. It is just getting worse
and worse," said Thawabteh, sitting beneath one of his trees, with the
West Bank city of Nablus shimmering in the distance.

An
estimated 10 million olive trees dot the Israeli-occupied West Bank,
thriving in the arid climate and covering 45 percent of all agricultural
land in the region.

But settler attacks are taking their
toll, says the United Nations, which has recorded a surge in general
violence this year. Vandals have not only snatched harvested olives,
but also destroyed thousands of trees.

The UN body for
humanitarian affairs, OCHA, says 7,500 trees were uprooted, burnt or
chopped down in the first nine months of 2011. The Palestinian
Authority says 800,000 trees have been destroyed since the 1967 war,
when Israel seized the territory.

The Israeli army, which
controls security in most of the West Bank, says it takes farmer
protection seriously and plans for the harvest as though it were a
military operation.

One of the top commanders in the territory
agrees that settler violence poses a real problem, but says it is tough
to eradicate what he believes to be random acts of criminality.

"It is very hard to catch the vandals. We have 10 million trees here
and can't defend all 10 million. It is not our only problem," said the
commander, who declined to be named.

"Ninety nine percent of
settlers maintain law and order. ... Unfortunately one percent, or
maybe less, support these people," he added, speaking from his West
Bank headquarters.

Settlement killings

Palestinians question the army's commitment to defending their
farmers, pointing to the fact that few vandals are ever caught. The
Israeli NGO Yesh Din says that of 127 cases of tree destruction it has
followed since 2005, only one ended in court.

Some 350,000 Israeli settlers live in the territory, claiming a biblical birthright to the Palestinian land.

Peace talks aimed at ending the conflict broke down last year following
a dispute over Jewish settlement building and repeated attempts to
revive the negotiations have failed. In the meantime, the construction
work continues.

OCHA says there are some 135 settlements. They
are deemed illegal by the World Court, something Israel disputes, and
often abut agricultural land farmed by Palestinians for generations.

The communities are ringed with security fences and the army has set up
wide buffer zones, giving farmers a limited time frame to enter the
fields and take care of the crops under their supervision.

Even within those set periods, violence can flare.

When Nizam Qawarek, 37, was told by commanders that he could go and
collect olives near the Itamar settlement, close to Nablus, he
immediately rushed to his silvery green trees.

He and his wife
had barely begun work before they were confronted by dozens of angry
residents from Itamar. "They were waving Israeli flags and shouting
there shouldn't be any Arabs here. They threw stones at us. It was
terrifying," he said.

Itamar residents justified their actions,
saying they didn't want Palestinians near their property following the
murder in March of five members of one family, including two children
and a baby, who were stabbed to death in their house.

Two local Palestinian youths have admitted to the killings.

"Only six months after the murder, while our blood is still boiling and
the residents are still caring for their bleeding wounds, allowing
anyone from the Awarta village, where the murderers ... came from, is
outrageous and negligent," Itamar rabbi, Avichai Rozenki, said in a
statement.

The settlers say the killers used last year's harvest to spy on Itamar from up close and find a way to break in.

"The announcements that are going out almost daily about damage caused
to Arab land and olive groves is totally incredible. If true, it would
be visible, everywhere. But it is not," said settler spokesman David
Haivri.

"Most of people here, Jews and non-Jews, are interested
in living out their lives and raising their families peacefully,"
added Haivri, who has been in the West Bank for over 20 years.

Counting the cost

British charity Oxfam estimates that olive output accounts for 15-19
percent of agricultural production in the territory, generating
revenues of $160-190 million and guaranteeing livelihoods for the
families of some 100,000 farmers.

The farmers maintain that the aggression is all part of a concerted effort to sweep them from the sun-soaked land.

Maazoza Zaben says settlers torched 270 of her trees in Burin in September, leaving an ugly black smear across the hill.

"They want us to leave the land. It will be easier to chase us away if
we don't have our trees. But even if they kill me, I won't leave this
place," said the 58-year-old widow.

Farmers who have land near
settlements and the West Bank separation wall say they have to count
the cost not just of trashed trees, but also of restrictions on access
rights.

Outside the harvesting season, the army says it does
not have the resources to oversee the pruning and plowing that is vital
to keep the groves healthy and prevent thick thorn bushes from taking
root between the gnarled, squat trees.

The day he was chased from his land, Qawarek also lost 30 trees near the Itamar settlement fence in an unexplained blaze.

Having been prevented from plowing, Qawarek stood helplessly by as the
flames lept from tree to tree, roaring along the parched thorns like
electricity surging through wires.

The army says limited
manpower also means it cannot provide security to everyone at the
height of the autumn harvest. As a result, it opens the season early
and offers villagers far less time than they would like to collect the
green and black olives.

"The trees would be perfect in two or
three weeks time," said Mohamed Shamih, 47, who had been given the
all-clear to go to his trees near Elon Moreh in early October.

"I will get 50 percent less oil by harvesting now, but that is better than losing the lot," he added.

Local children take time off school and much of the village turns out
to help pluck the olives from the trees, some of which date back 2,000
years to the Roman era, but even the mass mobilization won't be enough
to bring home all the fruit.

"I will have to return to my own land like a thief to try and get the rest," Shamih said, sitting atop his tractor.

1 nov 2011Israel closes down Yitzhar yeshiva due to violent acts against Palestinians

Education Ministry follows Shin Bet recommendation to close down Dorshei Yehudcha yeshiva in West Bank after its students engage in violent acts against Palestinians, Israeli security forces.

Israel's Education Ministry decided Tuesday to follow the recommendations of the Shin Bet and close down the Dorshei Yehudcha yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar, following its students' involvement in violent acts against Palestinians and Israeli security forces.

Shimshon Shoshani, the former director-general of the Education Ministry, decided last week before leaving his post to close down the yeshiva indefinitely.

Dorshei Yehudcha yeshiva high school is part of the institutions of Od Hai Yosef, headed by Rabbi Yitzhak Ginzburg. Two heads of the yeshiva, Rabbis Yosef Elitzur and Yitzhak Shapira wrote the controversial book "The King's Torah" which justifies the killing of non-Jews.

Last month, Haaretz revealed that the Shin Bet recommended that the Education Ministry close down the yeshiva since "it had collected extensive information on yeshiva students which are involved in illegal and violent activities against Palestinians and the security forces." It was also known that the yeshiva rabbis and its heads were aware of some of the activities taking place and allowed the students to participate.

Two suspects arrested in mosque torching case

Police have arrested two people in a suspected "price tag" activity from last year. The two, residents of Jerusalem and Kiryat Arba are suspected of setting fire to a mosque in Beit Fajjar.

A group of Jewish settlers Monday stoned an elderly Palestinian lady as she was picking olives in Mukhmas, a village southeast of Ramallah in the West Bank, according to local sources.

The 80-year-old woman was reported to be injured in the head and transferred to hospital for treatment.

Settlers have escalated their attacks on Palestinians, especially farmers, since the beginning of October to coincide with the olive picking season, a time of great significance to the Palestinian community.

A Palestinian restaurant in Jaffa was set on fire in a suspected "price tag" attack, Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Monday.

A local official said that the terms "price tag" and "Kahane was right" were written on the walls. Jaffa residents reported the incident on Monday morning.

Police have opened an investigation into the incident, which occurred on Yefet street at the Abu el-Abed restaurant, Haaretz reported.

Hardline Jewish settlers have adopted what they call a "price tag" policy under which they attack Palestinians and their property in response to Israeli government measures against settlements.

Slogans often cite Rabbi Meir Kahane, an extremist leader who advocated transfer of Palestinians from Israel.

There have been a string of recent attacks within Israel, although most violence takes place in the occupied West Bank.

A mosque in the village of Tuba Zangaria in northern Israel was set on fire in early October causing heavy damage to the carpets and walls.

On the outside of the mosque were scrawled the words "price tag" and "revenge" in Hebrew, Israeli police said.

Also in October, vandals defaced graves in two Palestinian cemeteries in Jaffa. The Islamic cemetery al-Kazakhana and nearby Christian Orthodox cemetery in the town were broken into at night, locals told reporters.

"Death to Arabs" and other racist slogans were daubed on graves, they said, and gravestones were smashed.

Around twenty percent, or 1.3 million people, of Israel's population are of Palestinian origin.

They are largely the descendants of Palestinians that managed to remain during the 1948 war, when an estimated 700,000 were expelled from or fled their homes during fighting that would see the establishment of the state of Israel.

Rights groups say that Israelis of Palestinian origin face discrimination in employment, education and public funding within Israel.

The Palestinian agricultural relief committee (PARC) said that Jewish settlers had burnt 2600 Palestinian olive trees in October, assessing the Palestinian farmers’ damages as a result at around 156000 dollars.

The committee said in its monthly report issued on Monday that the Palestinians lost on average 3.5 olive trees per hour in October either through incineration or destruction.

It noted that 53% of the losses were sustained in Nablus province followed by Salfit province at 24%, adding that most of the attacks were carried out by settlers with some of them committed by Israeli occupation soldiers.

PARC said that the damage covered 2440 dunums of land while pointing to the fact that 13 farmers were injured in the settlers’ attacks in the same month mostly in Nablus, and recorded 13 incidents in which farmers were denied access to their land.

Move come as settlers warn of large-scale demolitions in the near future; Gush Etzion official: Army should be protecting, not attacking Israelis.

The IDF destroyed four unauthorized homes that were in the final stages of construction at an outpost just outside of the Bat Ayin settlement in the West Bank early Monday morning.

The demolitions come as settlers and right-wing politicians have warned that the army intends to demolish hundreds of unauthorized West Bank settler homes.

Minor scuffles took place between authorities and settlers but no injuries were reported and no arrests were made, Israel Radio reported.

Yair Wolf, the Deputy head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, said that at a time when the army should be focused on defending the country from rocket attacks, it should not be attacking its own citizens.

Two months ago three homes in the Migron settlement outpost were also demolished. That enforcement led dozens of politicians to vow to find a solution for settlements the High Court of Justice has ruled must be demolished.

Thirty-eight parliamentarians appealed to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu after the Migron demolition not to demolish settler homes located on private Palestinian property.

Right wing politicians fear that there are other demolitions pending, including at the Givat Assaf outpost and the Ulpana neighborhood of the Beit El settlement.

At a Likud ministerial committee meeting earlier this month, Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat proposed the creation of a committee of independent, professional experts to examine alternative options that would avoid demolitions and allow for the authorization of such homes.

Netanyahu gave a nod in the direction of right-wing politicians, including many members of his party, when he agreed three weeks ago to create a committee to examine the legal status of settler homes on privately owned Palestinian land.

The High Court ruled that such homes and outposts must be removed by March 2012.

The international community has long expected Israel to remove some 100

illegally-built
West Bank outposts, many of which were started by settlers who
believed that they could eventually be legalized.

Under the 2002 road map, the government is expected to remove some 24 outposts constructed after former prime minister Ariel Sharon took office in March 2001.

Then prime minister Ehud Olmert spoke of removing the outposts. But since Netanyahu took office in 2009, there has been a shift in government policy. In repeated statements to the High Court the state has spoken of its intention to legalize those outposts built on state land.

But the government has insisted that those on private Palestinian property must be removed.

Prisoners returned home to Jerusalem as part of the Israel-Hamas prisoner swap agreement have been targeted by an unnamed Israeli extremist group.

The group has placed the freed prisoners under highly invasive surveillance in order to gather intelligence for the Israeli security apparatus. The group claims to “defend the lives of Israelis and Jews”, using a network of private detectives to track the prisoners’ moves and activities. Information gathered is then published to the Israeli media.

Aryaih King, a key figure of the network, has in the past called for complete “Judaization” of Palestinian East Jerusalem. King, active in the settler movement of Jerusalem and personally responsible for numerous eviction orders of Palestinian homes, advocates the monitoring of the liberated prisoners and to make their daily lives difficult, claiming that the Israeli public needs to be informed of their activities in the interests of “protecting Jewish lives from these terrorists”. Maps have been uploaded to the group’s Facebook page showing the residences of the released prisoners.

One of the released prisoners told Silwanic that “we have submitted a complaint to Facebook and are awaiting a response from their management. Facebook has banned many pro-Palestine groups on its website as a result of pressure from Israeli lobby groups, supposedly in the interest of security. Our lives are endangered by the existence of such groups operating on Facebook, however – surely the website will be forced to take action.”